Half-season verdict?

Overall it's an A for me. We're great to watch again, I actually like the players in the team and are on the up. We've potentially tied down our biggest prospect in Garnacho and the ownership looks as though it's going to change.

I was never expecting us to be close to a title challenge and I think we've improved unbelievably drastically since the start of the season. Couldn't ask for more right now.
 
Red Star One said:
I'm a demanding and hard-to-satisfy bitch, so it surely won't be an A, but B or B+ looks fair.

+ New ownership looks more likely than ever, Glazers haven't been this close to being out since they bought the club
+ Top4 should be achievable and even better if it happens with LFC missing out on CL
+ Much better atmosphere in the squad with Ronaldo gone, we've finally given up on a model of overpaying for English players and our most important signings in Licha and Casemiro have seamlessly adapted to the game, are universally loved by the fanbase and offer stability, ooze confidence and we needed their mental strength and leadership like oxygen
+ Still in the cups and we might finally win a trophy this season - still a long way to go though and I'd be sceptical of treating us as big favourites for any of them. Even if we only win EFL it will be a decent thing.
+ I enjoy the game we play, it's not the sexiest I have seen but defensively we look good, you can see some well-drilled routines as well as some amusing moments of brilliance, ETH is doing a respectable job in terms of tactics and I hope he can only improve in this regard.
+ Rise of Garnacho

- The absurdly bad start of the season, losing the first two games was truly awful and surely has had a strong psychological impact. We know now Brighton and Brentford are no pushovers this year and it's not as if we lost to relegation fodders, but there's no A/A- season that starts like this, we were immediately very much behind in the race.
- City is there for the taking for the first team in years (already lost as many league games as the whole last season) and Liverpool faces a big crisis. Over last 5-6 years I would dream that when this inevitably happens it will be United to challenge for the league and try to take advantage of that.
- Squad depth pretty much non-existent. We are always an injury or two away from a big drop in quality, Casemiro's yellow card yesterday was so brutal and so painful not only because he's excellent, but also because the second string is just levels below. We didn't do much to improve the depth, too, still keeping players like Jones on our books (this salary could and should go to a player fighting for minutes), doesn't look like it will improve in the upcoming years and it will cost us again.
- Sancho MIA. We paid top dollar for him and can't afford to spend close to a hundred million euros and cover his enormous salary when he doesn't play. He can still come good, but if we judge this season only, it's money down the drain with teams like Newcastle and Arsenal, competing for the same places as us, spending their pounds in a much more sensible manner and it has a tangible effect.

I also wish we played our youth a little bit more, especially Pellestri, but I can't criticize ETH for this just yet.

Overall: B, I guess, above expectations. Probably our best and most exciting half of the season since SAF left. Very glad ten Hag is here and I expect a lot from him in the upcoming months and years.
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Jadon Sancho, we are all hoping will come good however , the inept board must take responsibility for agreeing the transfer fee and more importantly £300k per wages, absolute madness. Last night a tired team was crying out for something fresh from the bench or to even start. We must have 6 to 7 options for 3 positions upfront, the club could conceivably play 64 games this year, the squad is currently 3 players short
 
So far exactly what we wanted. Brilliant work by Erik and most of the signings have worked well (Antony has been meh). Garnacho and the rebirth of Rashford have been much needed, while Bruno and Shaw are back in form.

I predict a third-place finish and an overall decent end to the season. Hope we win the Carabao Cup as well.
 
So far so good. Away form needs to improve.
 
Great, we've come in leaps and bounds since last season and im sure we're gonna go even further, ten hag has been so far impeccable.

Realistically we should be looking at a few deep cup runs in the second half of the season , we obviously seem to have the league cup final locked down (although forrest could pose a problem) and if we get past Barcelona we could go for a deep run in Europa.

Obviously it's unrealistic and over ambitious to expect us to compete in every single one of these cups with our squad limitations but I hope we at least manage to win one, the trophy drought should end sooner rather than later and im sure ten hag being the obsessive winner that he is realizes that.
 
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Great progress but we've got limitations due to a lack of striker and squad depth in some areas so we're over expectations. Good season so far
 
On route to a 75–80 points finish, which historically guarantees you CL qualification. Winning a cup is also still in the cards. The team looks healthy, several players have regained their form, we play some good stuff at times and, for the first time in quite a while, it looks like we have a high ceiling and lots of room for improvement. Before the start of the season, most bookies didn't believe we would make top-four.

I was really scared after the opening two matches, but ETH has shown that he can adapt to the particularities of both the squad and the PL. Truth be told, we're still over reliant on certain players we can't seem to do without on the pitch, but we can trust the manager to find a way to get us over the line come May.

30 goals halfway through the season isn't something to write home about, but, at least, we're trying to be direct instead of passing the ball between our back four and midfield.
 
It's been great. It's exactly what we've been crying for for ages, an actual rebuild with visible progress and the occasional hiccup. We have a top notch manager, players being coached and performing, and have played some nice stuff at times (and it's getting better and better).

The big negative is the squad depth, massive gulf in quality once we have to rotate (which explains some of the issues yesterday), but that was obviously not going to be fixed overnight. It's nice that some of the academy players are getting a look in, without compromising on our objectives.
 
The best thing about it all has been the installation of a new culture.
Yes we’ve played fairly well for the most part but the benefits of a cultural change will be far longer reaching.
 
A - 9/10

Excellent all round. Super solid. Sometimes world class and an absolute transformation of the **** show we suffered through last season.

Top manager and a squad finally the looks to have the building blocks of potential. Even bigger than all that the Glazer’s are selling :drool:

IF we get great new owners I’ll call it a 9.5/10 season even just getting top 4.
 
Very pleased so far. Very good transfers, players back in form, poorer players dropped, results have been good and still in all four cups so far.
 
If only the season ended now, that would be great. But yeah exceeded my expectations for sure and I’m excited about us building on this over next few seasons. Unfortunately I think we are a few injuries away from potentially missing top 4 as I think the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea will improve greatly in second half of season.

I really hope we can win the Carabao cup as that first trophy is so needed at the club and will be amazing for ETH and the players . Just hope Newcastle have a blip soon.
 
EtH and the squad have been performing way above the level anyone expected.

Been a wonderful first season so far. If Erik can pick up a cup and maintain the current standard for the full season then I’ll be very pleased.
 
B+. In terms of points, we are definitely doing better than most of us would have expected. However (and was kind of expected really) we really struggle in front of goal and most of our games are very close, 1 goal margin which means we are always 1 good strike or mistake away from dropping points. In cups we had really favourable draws so far so doing as you would expect us to do with any manager really. Our signings have been a mixed bag from A++ (Casemiro) to absolute disaster E (Antony, and I feel I am being generous here). Overall, plenty of reasons to be optimistic and would be nice to finish the season being comfortably TOP 4 and with a cup or 2.
 
9/10 so far. Despite Erik coming in, after last seasons 'performances', realistically, I thought we'd be 5th or 6th at best this season. We are only half way through the season, but the scale of improvement in the team, their performances, the belief, togetherness and will to win is night and day compared to last season.

I think Erik has done a brilliant job so far. His handling of the Ronaldo circus, and that of Maguire also, has been very impressive. I like the attitude of the squad now, and him identifying the fact the squad needed leaders to come in.

The title talk was always premature, even if last nights result had of been different. We're not there yet, and don't have any right to be as close as we are when you consider the start of the season too.

I think we will make Top 4 at a canter. I haven't seen enough from Spurs, Liverpool or Chelsea to suggest that they can go on a sustained period of winning and really put the pressure on. I think our focus should be on staying in touch with the top as long as possible, consolidating 3rd place - I don't think we will finish above Arsenal or Citeh. That would be a wonderful first season for Erik, and will give us belief we can do better next season.

If we can win the Carabao Cup also, that would be great to get that first trophy in a few years and breathe more trust that we're on the right track into the squad.

Hopefully, we finally get rid of the Glazers, and are bought by sensible people who don't do anything stupid. The manager needs to be backed in the market in the summer. A new starting striker and a high quality midfielder are priorities right now. With those additions, and maybe one or two more in other areas, we would be well placed to go for it next year. Obviously, having CL football back might help us attract top players too.
 
9/10. Last season was atrocious. The start of this season much the same. The whole drama with Ronnie. Having a cluster of unsuitable players on huge wages. No bona fide striker. ETH has done amazingly well.
 
Still not totally won over by Hag's work in the transfer market but outside of that I've been mightily impressed.
 
Very satisfied so far. Come Sunday we'll have City and Arsenal out of the way in the league too and the League cup will be finished soon either way.

The schedule we have had is mental while dealing with not having a super extended squad and with Martial and Sancho unavailable for long periods.

I actually think the fall out from last night speaks volumes to the job ETH has done so far. That was disappointment in losing ground on the league leaders when basically all us are happy with top 4 for this season. In terms of top 4 we are in a great position and still in 3 cups too. Hopefully we can win at least one of the 3 and grab top 4 in the second half of the season.
 
Manchester United have had a tremendous season so far. Tremendous. Look at where we were a mere few months ago, players out of form, no playing strategy at all. We now have Rashford, Shaw, DDG, Varane, Martinez, Ericksen, Bruno, Casimero... all top players, playing very well.

Winning nine games in a row at any level is outstanding, simply outstanding. With the squad we have, and where we were, I give us an A+
 
This guy we've got in charge now is no joke, leaves no stone unturned, has a vision for now and the future , is brave, is decisive, he's smart. I fckin love him

We're absolutely on the right track and no matter if we don't achieve this seasons targets (I think we will btw) I know we'll hit them next year and the upturn won't stop there either
 
We've done a lot better than I expected so far, I really thought we'd be in a battle to make the top 6 and that there would be a few more games like Brentford away. Players that were apparently finished last season have shown great improvement, the tough decisions that had to be made like easing Maguire out and getting rid of Ronaldo have been done well, and there just seems to be a good connection developing between the manager/players and fans.

To be in a strong position for the top 4 and have a realistic chance of winning a trophy as well, if we can manage that then it's a very good season.
 
B

If I'd been in a coma since August and I saw the league table now, I'd be delighted.

But last night still feels raw. They should be 2nd in the league now. Defeat on Sunday and even 4th is in the balance again.
 
Everything is rosy apart from not scoring enough goals to challenge for the title which is unlikely to improve in the second half. That was never our objective for the season, though, and the brief tease of it was just an added bonus of being ahead of schedule.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
B

If I'd been in a coma since August and I saw the league table now, I'd be delighted.

But last night still feels raw. They should be 2nd in the league now. Defeat on Sunday and even 4th is in the balance again.
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But we won nine on the bounce! And then drew away to a Palace side who always give a fight. Last night feels like a bad result but it was a decent point. And I think taught us a good lesson, which will help us.

And let's not get too down if, if we lose to Arsenal.
 
  • I'd give us a 90% chance at top 4 from here.
  • We are in the semi finals of the league Cup and probably will make the finals
  • In the fa cup with an easy next game
  • Did well in the Europa League Group, but were fecked over a bit to finish 2nd (we got 15 points and missed out due to goal differential because a referee mistake in the 1st game that Ten Hag took lightly)
  • Playing style has been totally transformed beyond what anyone thought would be capable at this point. Our passing structures, build up, decision making etc is all excellent. The movement of players filling in to maintain a 3-1-6 build up structure when others are out of position and instinctively knowing someone needs to be in one of the spots is great to see.
  • Defensively we are a very good team all around. It's not just about your back 4 to defend, and we are seeing a team press with organization, knowing when to drop off, knowing how to shut teams out from progressing the ball and knowing how to restrict opportunities even when the best team has 70% of the ball. Seriously, 1 shot on target and only 1 real chance conceded to Man City? Crazy stuff. We genuinely have a defence that is good enough to win it all, and has the depth. The one player whose absence we feel is Varane, and in the summer we should bin Maguire and Lindelof and replace for a physically rounded CB who can come in for Varane when required, with potential to take over in a few years.
  • The resilience to not panic after going a goal down to a team like City, and come back to win says a lot as well.
Ten Hag has done wonders and has been pretty much perfect in my books. Our squad isn't as yet capable of challenging for the title, and we are on 39 points from half a season after the first 2 games being essentially forfeits and down to last year's hangover (but at the same time, the rebound from them has led to a big run, so 39 points is fair). No manager can turn our attacking line this season into a title challenger, and we will have games where we drop silly points. We've actually been remarkably consistent and I'm surprised that more results like Palaces haven't happened. So from that perspective, yes more training will improve us (especially with our goal difference), but mainly it would need a better striker, and internal player progression to actually get more points. A lot more to come from Antony and Sancho mainly which would be a big difference as our attack is Rashford reliant (who has been fantastic).

Our big game performances have been excellent, and in half a season, we've beaten every single big team apart from Chelsea who we have still to play at Old Trafford (and Newcastle, where we would've won if we weren't forced to play Ronaldo). After this weekend, we'll have 18 games to play, but we'll have already played City and Arsenal both home and away. Pretty much the entire middle third of the league we'll play at home, which greatly decreases the difficulty of those games, and the away games against the bottom clubs will be generally easier. Tough big away games to come, but there is only Liverpool, Newcastle and Spurs (and Brighton) from that perspective. 10 home games, 8 away games after this weekend, and Old Trafford is back to being a fortress.

Don't see how anyone can grade it anything other than an A. Not an A+ as we probably fecked ourselves in the Europa League (bad luck more than anything but still), and our goal difference is a bit shit, but the team play, team progression, player progression, results have been as good as anyone could hope for. Ten Hag is an attack minded, proactive manager who has coached us to be ridiculously well organized and smart defensively.

2nd half of the season I'd expect:
  • A trophy (won't win them all, but need 1)
  • 3rd or 4th (doesn't matter), but mainly around 80 points (which would be simply repeating the 1st half of the season)
  • Improved play from Sancho and Antony
  • Better goal difference
  • The rest to simply keep it up
Which would set us up well for the summer. A striker like Kane there and we should be title challengers. Genuinely 1 player away from that level now, but past that a CM, a GK and then more fitting depth for Varane away from completing our squad where we compete for it all.
 
The fact that we’ve gone from being humiliated at home against Liverpool and City, to beating them both within a relatively short space of time, is an ‘A’ for me in itself: the way in which we’ve done it, and managed the Ronaldo situation, just enhances that score.
 
bosnian_red said:
  • I'd give us a 90% chance at top 4 from here.
  • We are in the semi finals of the league Cup and probably will make the finals
  • In the fa cup with an easy next game
  • Did well in the Europa League Group, but were fecked over a bit to finish 2nd (we got 15 points and missed out due to goal differential because a referee mistake in the 1st game that Ten Hag took lightly)
  • Playing style has been totally transformed beyond what anyone thought would be capable at this point. Our passing structures, build up, decision making etc is all excellent. The movement of players filling in to maintain a 3-1-6 build up structure when others are out of position and instinctively knowing someone needs to be in one of the spots is great to see.
  • Defensively we are a very good team all around. It's not just about your back 4 to defend, and we are seeing a team press with organization, knowing when to drop off, knowing how to shut teams out from progressing the ball and knowing how to restrict opportunities even when the best team has 70% of the ball. Seriously, 1 shot on target and only 1 real chance conceded to Man City? Crazy stuff. We genuinely have a defence that is good enough to win it all, and has the depth. The one player whose absence we feel is Varane, and in the summer we should bin Maguire and Lindelof and replace for a physically rounded CB who can come in for Varane when required, with potential to take over in a few years.
  • The resilience to not panic after going a goal down to a team like City, and come back to win says a lot as well.
Ten Hag has done wonders and has been pretty much perfect in my books. Our squad isn't as yet capable of challenging for the title, and we are on 39 points from half a season after the first 2 games being essentially forfeits and down to last year's hangover (but at the same time, the rebound from them has led to a big run, so 39 points is fair). No manager can turn our attacking line this season into a title challenger, and we will have games where we drop silly points. We've actually been remarkably consistent and I'm surprised that more results like Palaces haven't happened. So from that perspective, yes more training will improve us (especially with our goal difference), but mainly it would need a better striker, and internal player progression to actually get more points. A lot more to come from Antony and Sancho mainly which would be a big difference as our attack is Rashford reliant (who has been fantastic).

Our big game performances have been excellent, and in half a season, we've beaten every single big team apart from Chelsea who we have still to play at Old Trafford (and Newcastle, where we would've won if we weren't forced to play Ronaldo). After this weekend, we'll have 18 games to play, but we'll have already played City and Arsenal both home and away. Pretty much the entire middle third of the league we'll play at home, which greatly decreases the difficulty of those games, and the away games against the bottom clubs will be generally easier. Tough big away games to come, but there is only Liverpool, Newcastle and Spurs (and Brighton) from that perspective. 10 home games, 8 away games after this weekend, and Old Trafford is back to being a fortress.

Don't see how anyone can grade it anything other than an A. Not an A+ as we probably fecked ourselves in the Europa League (bad luck more than anything but still), and our goal difference is a bit shit, but the team play, team progression, player progression, results have been as good as anyone could hope for. Ten Hag is an attack minded, proactive manager who has coached us to be ridiculously well organized and smart defensively.

2nd half of the season I'd expect:
  • A trophy (won't win them all, but need 1)
  • 3rd or 4th (doesn't matter), but mainly around 80 points (which would be simply repeating the 1st half of the season)
  • Improved play from Sancho and Antony
  • Better goal difference
  • The rest to simply keep it up
Which would set us up well for the summer. A striker like Kane there and we should be title challengers. Genuinely 1 player away from that level now, but past that a CM, a GK and then more fitting depth for Varane away from completing our squad where we compete for it all.
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I know right? Surprised to see a few Bs. Not sure if they are serious.
 
Better than I could have imagined. Absolutely loving the team, and can’t wait for each fixture which certainly wasn’t the case last season. We look like a serious outfit again. Ronaldo issue dealt with perfectly. Phasing out the players that aren’t good enough, and bringing some back from the brick who look like fulfilling their potential. I said top 4 and a trophy would be wonderful and we are firmly on course for that.
 
A Star. We're third. Before the season I thought we'd be 6th. I'm overjoyed. But the next step - consistency - is always the hardest as we saw yesterday.
 
Judge Red said:
Everything is rosy apart from not scoring enough goals to challenge for the title which is unlikely to improve in the second half. That was never our objective for the season, though, and the brief tease of it was just an added bonus of being ahead of schedule.
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Yep, and there is only so much you can do with coaching. At some point, you need to enhance the squad. To step up further, we need a reliable striker who is good enough to play for a big team. Look at the teams we want to be competing with:
  • Barca - Lewandowski
  • Madrid - Benzema
  • City - Haaland (and Alvarez on the bench...)
  • PSG - Mbappe (Messi and Neymar in support...)
  • Bayern previously had Lewandowski, now going through a transition where they don't really have a striker (and have dropped their level as a result)
  • Liverpool in the past few years - Firmino as a world class false 9/Salah as the wide scorer
  • Arsenal right now has Jesus who is quality
  • Napoli right now with Osimhen
Our attack has had Rashford who has been excellent, and 18 year old Garnacho being an excellent 18 year old to be an impact player the past 2 months... But outside of them, they've all been pretty much non existent. They need to improve, but also we just need a more reliable striker.
 
We're slightly ahead of where I thought we'd be at this stage. We play good to watch football for themost part and the teams we face no longer turn up knowing they can outwork us for the win. I notice a big change also in how opposition managers are talking about us pre and post match. A lot more respect and they are now setting up to try and stop us rather than taking the piss like they were last season.

We're adding more warriors to the first eleven and players like Dalot, AWB, Shaw, Rashford who were all being written off last season, have all shown they are good enough for this club thanks to having a manager and coaching team who can, you know, actually coach them to a proper system.

It's a 9 for me. If we end the season with the league cup and maybe 3rd place in the league, I will see that as a very good season. Anything more than that - 2md or another cup and it'll be a 9.75 out of ten season given where we were after 2 games.
 
Jeffthered said:
But we won nine on the bounce! And then drew away to a Palace side who always give a fight. Last night feels like a bad result but it was a decent point. And I think taught us a good lesson, which will help us.

And let's not get too down if, if we lose to Arsenal.
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Palace don’t always give a fight though. Every other big team goes there and wins. Spurs won 4-0 there this month

It’s only United who seem to struggle there
 
Above expectations; going really well so far.

I expected more 'bumps in the road, and I'm sure there'll be some before the end of the season, but overall, I'm loving life under ETH.
 
8/10.

Everything considered we look set to finish top 4 and have a good chance at winning League Cup. We're also improving a lot regarding the quality of play and possession of the ball.

We're on the right track and hopefully we keep building up on this.
 
De Gea A-
Dalot A-
Varane A
Martinez B+
Shaw A-
Malacia C+
Lindelof B-
Maguire C
Wan Bissaka B
Casemiro A-
Mctominay C
Fred B-
Eriksen B
Bruno B+
Rashford A-
Garnacho B
Antony C+
Sancho C-
Martial C
Ronaldo Z

We have been very good in defense and have good cover but we're obviously short of midfield cover and short of attacking quality.
 
LawCharltonBest said:
Palace don’t always give a fight though. Every other big team goes there and wins. Spurs won 4-0 there this month

It’s only United who seem to struggle there
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Yes but it's an away game to a mid table team after a 9 game winning run. It's not so much about the opposition, but more about "we were due a result where we didn't get the luck of the bounce". A screamer in the 91st minute and Casemiro missing a sitter just after that after the ref doesn't call a clear pen before their goal... Yeah that's about right. Doesn't matter the opponent, those games will happen to stop big winning runs eventually. Stopped at 9 because we aren't a team who can really do those yet. Simply don't have the attackers for more.
 
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